Military Aid for Colombia

May 17, 2000

ISSUE:

On March 30, 2000, the House of Representatives approved a $1.7 billion package in emergency assistance for Colombia, over half of which is destined for the Colombian military for use in fighting drug production and trafficking. The Colombian army has the worst human rights record of any army in the Western Hemisphere, and the line between counternarcotics and counterinsurgency operations in Colombia becomes more blurred with each passing day. The Colombia package also includes helpful funding for human rights, judicial reform and alternative development programs to help small coca farmers switch to legal crops.

The Senate approved the package in the Appropriations Committee as part of the foreign operations appropriations bill. This bill will go to the floor in the next few days.

ACTION:

Call your senators and ask them to:

1. Oppose military aid to Colombia;
2. Support positive amendments to the Colombia aid package to shift funding from aid to Colombia's military into debt relief for impoverished countries and drug treatment programs in the United States.
3. Urge your senators to speak out regarding human rights in Colombia during the debate on the floor.

WHEN:

Immediately

FAX or PHONE:

The Honorable _____________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The U.S. Capitol Switchboard can connect you to your senator's office: (202) 224-3121.

BACKGROUND:

Colombia's military and police are already the world's third-largest recipients of U.S. assistance, with arms and training growing from about $65 million in 1996 to nearly $300 million in 1999. Though purportedly for counternarcotics only, the proposed aid will greatly increase the U.S. financial commitment to Colombia's army, and will bring the United States still closer to involvement in Colombia's intractable conflict.

Fighting between the Colombian military, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries has escalated enormously since the mid-1990s, making the hemisphere's oldest conflict its bloodiest by far. The violence has forced about 1 million people from their homes in the past four years alone, creating a humanitarian crisis of global proportions. It is a conflict in which massacres and displacement are used as military tactics and civilian non-combatants account for at least two-thirds of casualties.

The United States should help Colombia with substantial diplomatic and financial support, but major concerns about the military portion of the package persists for the following reasons:

1. Its effect on Colombia's peace process. Colombia's president, Andrés Pastrana, has made the pursuit of a negotiated end to the conflict the centerpiece of his term in office so far. Though fraught with difficulty, talks with the FARC, Colombia's largest guerrilla group, have been proceeding for a year now, and the ELN guerrillas have also expressed an interest in negotiations. In addition to escalating the conflict, infusing hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid risks weakening the process by radicalizing anti-peace elements on both sides. Militarists in the FARC will see the aid as a reason to keep fighting, while the aid will give comfort to hard-liners in Colombia's ruling circles who already resist any further concessions.
2. Its effect on human rights. Despite some positive steps taken by the Pastrana Administration to dismiss high-level officers involved in human rights abuses, concerns remain strong over the Colombian military's human rights record. A recent report by Human Rights Watch revealed that over half of the brigades in the Colombian army have links of some kind with paramilitary groups, who were responsible for 77 percent of political killings and disappearances in 1999.
3. The growing overlap between counternarcotics and counterinsurgency. Policy makers insist that all new military aid will be dedicated to the war on drugs. The drug war and Colombia's real war overlap significantly, however, increasing the risk that the United States will again be drawn into the quagmire of another country's civil conflict.
4. Its continuation of a misguided policy. If the United States really has $1 billion to spend on the anti-drug effort in Colombia, it should be part of a long-term effort to eliminate the reasons why Colombians choose to cultivate drugs in the first place. These reasons – state neglect of rural areas, a nonexistent rule of law, a lack of economic infrastructure and opportunity – not only explain the flourishing drug trade; they also account in part for the proliferation of armed groups in Colombia's countryside.

Funds from Colombian military aid should be applied to debt relief for impoverished countries and for reducing the demand for illegal drugs in the U.S. and for treatment.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY GUIDANCE:

The 1993 General Assembly called for the "demilitarization of U.S. drug wars policies in foreign countries" and an emphasis on drug prevention and treatment at home. The 1996 Assembly, in its statement on sustainable development, called upon the U.S. government to "provide strong support for human rights through its international economic policies, especially foreign assistance and trade." The 1999 and 1998 General Assemblies have endorsed the Jubilee 2000 debt initiative campaign.

For more information on Colombia and the U.S. aid package, please visit the following web sites:

www.ciponline.org -- Center for International Policy: This site contains the latest information on the Colombia aid package and the peace process.

www.lawg.org -- Latin America Working Group: action alerts.